Notes on Blood Meridian

John Sepich

Isn't it always the way? The first truly indispensable book of 2001 and it's impossible to find. Even bookfinder.com doesn't list a copy. (Those of you in Cleveland can find one copy at the Borders Outlet on W. Ridgeville Rd. in Parma... or you could last week, anyway.) Cormac McCarthy's 1985 novel Blood Meridian is one of the finest novels in the English language, and the realization that much of the book is based on true events of 1849-1850 makes McCarthy's achievement even more harrowing. John Sepich gives us an overview of Mcarthy's cources as well as a look into some of the other conceits that tie the book together. Whether you take all of Sepich's assertions at face value or not (and he certainly does stretch things a little with his Tarot interpretations), the end result of reading Notes on Blood Meridian is an even deeper appreciation for the genius of Cormac McCarthy. Sepich hunted down obscure references by the score, source material that's been out of print for a century and a half, authors of critical works, unpublished dissertations, you name it. It's all here. You'd have to spend years doing the research yourself. Why not let Sepich hand it to you on a silver platter? This is great stuff, and as a comp-anion to Blood Meridian itself, it's indispensable.